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can not set external source editor

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 17 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I am again having the problem of being able to use Notepad++ as my default external source editor. I had problems with this in previous versions. I just upgraded from version 21 to version 22 and I can no longer edit source. view_source.editor.path is still set and unchanged. view_source.editor.external is also still set and true but the view source now brings up the Firefox default which does not allow editing anything! Why would this keep changing? Where might this also be set as the about:config settings are apparently not being used. In searching I have not seen any other suggestions except going into about:config and then confirming or changing the two fields that are already set and worked in the past. What am I missing and why does it keep changing with each upgrade? This is Windows XP but my Windows 7 computer is doing the same thing.

Thank you.

I am again having the problem of being able to use Notepad++ as my default external source editor. I had problems with this in previous versions. I just upgraded from version 21 to version 22 and I can no longer edit source. view_source.editor.path is still set and unchanged. view_source.editor.external is also still set and true but the view source now brings up the Firefox default which does not allow editing anything! Why would this keep changing? Where might this also be set as the about:config settings are apparently not being used. In searching I have not seen any other suggestions except going into about:config and then confirming or changing the two fields that are already set and worked in the past. What am I missing and why does it keep changing with each upgrade? This is Windows XP but my Windows 7 computer is doing the same thing. Thank you.

All Replies (5)

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Are you escaping backslashes?

  • view_source.editor.path: "C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\Notepad++.exe"
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This is my external editor path: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\Notepad++.exe for Windows 7 and C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\Notepad++.exe for Windows XP.

It did not change. It was working in the previous version and when version 22 installed automatically it stopped working even though everything looks correct and did not change from the previous version.

My view_source.editor.external is and was set to True.

What am I missing?

Thank you.

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Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window or otherwise make changes.
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The theme is already set to default. I am not sure why this would have worked fine in the previous version and then changed when the newer version was installed. I just installed version 23 on this XP machine and I still can not get external editor to work.

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Are there any errors related to view source in the Browser/Error Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer;Ctrl+Shift+J)?

Do you see the correct path if you paste this code in the code field in the error console and click evaluate?

viewSourceAppPath =Components.classes["@mozilla.org/preferences-service;1"]                     .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIPrefBranch)                     .getComplexValue("view_source.editor.path",Components.interfaces.nsIFile);
viewSourceAppPath.path;